‘I FEEL LIKE I’VE LOST MY BEST MATE’
Dad pays tribute to ‘beautiful’ Dani
DEVASTATED father Michael Finley Brookes has paid tribute to his ‘beautiful’ daughter who died on the Spanish island of Majorca last year.
An inquest concluded last week that Danielle Finlay Brookes took her own life in Magaluf just days before her 24th birthday on May 19, 2020.
The 23-year-old bar worker from Crewe was found dead by friends at her apartment.
Now Michael has shared moving memories about his ‘amazing girl’.
Michael, who is known as Fin, said: “People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and it’s totally true, everything about it.
“Dani was my steel girder, all the way through life since she was born when I was 23. She had turned into a beautiful young lady and she was brainy.
“Dani was the type of person who would do anything for anyone. I’ve heard that many stories about when people she knew were feeling low in Magaluf.
“Dani would be the first person on the phone saying ‘get ready, I’ll come and pick you up’ and she’d just take them out for a few drinks to cheer them up.
“She was just the life and soul of the party. She was beautiful inside and out. I know every dad says that but she was.
“She was just an amazing girl with a heart of gold. I miss her so much, I really do. It’s heartbreaking. I really do feel like I’ve lost my best mate.”
Fin and Dani used to go to karaoke nights together including at The Talbot in Nantwich.
He said: “She was a beautiful singer Dani as well. I loved her singing on karaoke, I was just so proud. She brought tears to my eyes when she sang Big Girls Don’t Cry.”
She also briefly appeared in a scene of the BBC’S hit sitcom Citizen Khan.
Dani had grown up in the Crewe area but had moved to Magaluf to work as a bartender, something Fin said she had long been thinking of doing, and he said she had been ‘loving it’.
He fondly remembered the time he went over to the Spanish tourist hotspot last year to visit Dani on her 23rd birthday.
He said: “It was meant to be a surprise but a couple of people let the cat out of the bag.
“She said the words to me ‘dad, this is the best birthday ever, thank you’.”
The pair were so close that they even had ‘his and hers’ shot glasses - Fin still has his but Dani’s was placed in the coffin with her “so she could take it with her”.
Fin added: “A lot of people have said they couldn’t believe how close we both were. We were like best mates.”